Cigarette snuffer and ash tray



Aug. 24, 1943. A. R. GLIDDEN CIGARETTE SNUFFER AND ASHTRAY Filed Feb. 9, 1942 I%;IIIIII/// 1 29. 4'.

INVENTOR //aoe/2 QM ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 24, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT I OFFICE CIGARETTE SNUFFER AND ASH TRAY Arthur R. Glidden, Seattle, Wash. Application February 9, 1942, Serial No. 429,991

6 Claims.

This invention relates to a cigarette snufler and ash tray, and for its principal object aims to provide a unit combining a receptacle for cigarette stubs with a snufling recess, and having a device by means of which a cigarette butt snufled in the recess is thereafter readily transferred .to the tray. It is a further and a particular object of the invention to provide a snufier and tray unit having a severalty of the said snufiing recesses, and in which the transfer device is common to each of the said recesses and functions to clear the same collectively.

More particular objects and advantages, with the foregoing, will become apparent in the course of the following description and claims, the invention consisting in the novel construction and in the adaptation and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a top plan view illustrating a preferred form of the invention in an embodiment permitting the same to be attached as an accessory to the dash-board of an automotive vehicle.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section thereof taken on line 22 of Fig. 1 and showing the same as attached to a dash-board which I indicate fragmentarily.

Fig. 3 is a, fragmentary longitudinal vertical section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1 to indicate the inclined trackways which lie at each end of the unit and function to slidably support the transfer device in its operation of clearing the snufiing recesses.

Fig. 4 is a detail longitudinal vertical section taken to a reduced scale on a section line corresponding to that of Fig. 2 and modified therefrom in that the transfer device is shown as having been withdrawn to clear the recesses of cigarette butts snuffed therein; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary transverse vertical section taken to the scale of Figs. 1 through 3 on line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

The reference numeral 6 in the drawing indicates the foundation piece of my invention, and in its preferred form I produce the same to present a basin 1 at the front, a transversely extending trench 8 at the rear and, between such' basin and trench, a rearwardly sloping and longitudinally grooved apron. The grooves of this apron, denoted by I0, are semi-circular in transverse vertical section and extend the length of the apron from the basin 1 at the front to the trench 8 at the rear. At each of its side edges, such apron presents'track-ways ll occupying a plane paralleling the axial lines of the grooves ill, or channels as the same will be hereinatfer termed, and these track-ways are desirably prolonged to-the rear wall l2 of the piece. Finding a slide fit on the track-ways is a cap member l3 arranged to overlie the apron and trench and having its underside channeled as at I4 in re-, verse correspondence with the channels of the apron. Such registering channels act in complement to describe snufling recesses for cigarettes, and functioning as end walls for these recesses are finger dependencies I 5 carried by the cap member and which are dimensionally reduced from the lower halves of the recesses to provide marginal clearance for the passage of cigarette ashes into the trench. It will be apparent from an inspection of Fig. 4 that the finger dependencies, following the use of the recesses to snuff cigarettes therein, function to clear said recesses of the snuffed butts by the simple expedient of sliding the cap member forwardly.

0f import to the efficiency of the device in that it resists upward dislodgement of the cap mem- -ber under the expansive influence of a snufling operation is the fact of the rear wall of the foundation piece acting in complement with the track-ways to produce acute angular sockets into which the sliding cap member is arranged to wedge in its fully seated position. Tongue-andgroove slides, or a functional counterpart of the same, would of course accomplish a similar end, and while such a substitution is considered to be well within the spirit of the invention it may be pointed out that the illustrated wedge seat lends itself to plastic molding processes and is additionally advantageous by reason of the greater ease with which the cap mmeber may be removed from and returned to the foundation piece in the operation of turning the latter upsidedown for cleaning the same of its ash and stub contents.

Indicated at I6 is a receptacle for a, packet of paper matches which I indicate by dotted is fixed to the dash-board D of the vehicle,

For greatest convenience, especially when employed as an accessory for an automotive vehicle, each of the several snufiing recesses are filled with fresh cigarettes at such intervals as may be, required, the stubs of each of these cigarettes as the same are successively used being returned to the empty recess and snuffed. As the supply is exhausted, the several recesses are cleared collectively by sliding the cap member forwardly to deposit the studs'in the basin 1. whereupon a fresh supply of cigarettes are inserted.

What I claim, is:

' 1. Adevice for the purpose described compris-' ing-the combination of .a foundation piece providing a basin functioning as an ash-tray for the device and having an apron-forming wall sloping away from alip of said basin, said apron .being longitudinally grooved to form a semicircular channel exposed at its upper end to the basin; and a cap member finding a slide fit over the apron and having its underside grooved in "by forward sliding movement of the cap member to clear the snufling recess of a cigarette butt snuffed therein.

2..A device according to claim 1 in which the slide mounting for the cap member is comprised of exposed track-ways. with the foundation piece providing a back wall 'functioning in complement with said track-ways to describe an acute angular socket, said cap member finding a wedge fit within said socket in the normal seated position of the same. 1 I

a 3. A device according to claim 1 in which the foundation piece provides a cavity lying to the rear of the apron and exposed to the channel formed therein, and wherein clearance is provided between the walls of said channel and the finger dependency to permit passage of ashes into the cavity from a cigarette butt snuffed in the snuffing recess.

4. A device for the purpose described comprisassure ing the combination of a foundation piece providing a basin forming an ash tray forthe device and having an apron-forming wall sloping away from a lip of said basin, said apron being longitudinally grooved at spaced intervals of its width to form a plurality of semi-circular channels exposed to the basin at the u per end of each; and a cap member finding a slide fit over the apron and having its "underside grooved in reverse correspondence with the apron to form registering channels functioning in complement with the channels of the apron to provide snuifing recesses, said cap member providing finger dependencies arranged to extend into the channels of the apron to form bottom .walls for the snufiing recesses and functioning by forward sliding movement of the cap memberto collectivel! clear the snufilng recesses of cigarette butts snuffed therein.

5. A device for the purpose described/comprising the combination of a foundation piece formed with an exposed face longitudinally grooved at spaced intervals of its width to present a plurality of semi-circular channels; and a cap member slidably fitting the foundation piece'in overlying relation to said'grooves and having the face thereof which meets the grooved face of the foundation member grooved in reverse correspondence with the grooves of the foundation face to form registering channels functioning therewith to provide snufling recesses, said cap member providing flnger dependencies arranged to extend into the channels of the face at the lower ends of the latter and functioning by upward sliding movement of the cap member to collectively clear the snufling recesses of cigarette butts snuffed there- 6. The device of claim 5 in-which the foundation' piece provides a cavity exposed to the lower ends of the snufllng recesses for receiving ashes from cigarettes snuffed in the latter, the finger dependencies having clearance relative to the walls of the recesses to allow passage of said ashes.

ARTHUR R. GLIDDEN. 

